Robert Hanssen found dead in his supermax prison cell aged 79: Veteran FBI agent who was jailed for giving Russians nuclear secrets was 20 years into 15 consecutive life sentences
- Robert Hanssen, 79, was found dead in his supermax federal prison cell at the ADX in Florence, Colorado
- A cause of death has not yet been released, but officials say there is no threat to the public
- Hanssen pleaded guilty to selling highly classified materials to the Soviet Union and later to Russia and was sentenced to 15 consecutive life sentences
A former FBI agent convicted of espionage for Russia and serving a life sentence in a Colorado Supermax prison has died at the age of 79.
The bureau confirmed Monday that Robert Hanssen was found unresponsive in his supermax federal prison cell at the ADX in Florence, Colorado around 6.55am.
Responding prison staff members initiated life-saving measures, the bureau said in a statement, but Hanssen was ultimately pronounced dead by outside medical personnel.
A cause of death has not yet been released, but officials say there is no threat to the public.
Hannsen became notorious in the United States when he was arrested in 2001 and pleaded guilty to selling highly classified materials to the Soviet Union and later Russia.
He was only 20 years into his 15 consecutive life sentences for espionage, conspiracy to commit espionage and attempted espionage at the time of his death.
Robert Hanssen was serving 15 consecutive life sentences in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to espionage charges
FBI agents are pictured arresting Hanssen near his Virginia home in February 2001
Hanssen began his operation just three years after he was hired by the FBI, when he personally approached the Soviets.
He began spying for the KGB in 1979, and continued to do so for its successor, the SVR, until he was ultimately confronted by his wife.
But in 1985, Hanssen continued his operation, selling thousands of classified documents involving human sources, counterintelligence techniques and investigations in exchange for more than $1.4million in cash, diamonds and foreign bank deposits.
He never met with a Russian handler in person, but would instead use the alias ‘Ramon Garcia’ to pass on encrypted communications and conduct dead drops.
Some of the information that he was able to pass on included details on the US’s nuclear war preparations and a secret eavesdropping tunnel underneath the Soviet embassy in Washington DC.
Hanssen’s identity was ultimately revealed when a Russian intelligence officer handed the FBI a file containing a trash bag with his finger prints and a tape recording of his voice.
Agents then tailed the turncoat, and he was arrested while making a dead drop at a Virginia park.